My blog provides alternative view on Kashmir dispute and politics of South Asia, especially India Pakistan relations. It aims to educate people that they can make informed judgements.

Sunday, 3 September 2017

China and India A Lesson in Conflict Resolution, by Amitai Etzioni

China and India A Lesson in Conflict Resolution, by Amitai
Etzioni

In
a violent world, the two behemoths offer a welcome respite.

China
and India just reminded the world – especially those who have seen the
slaughter in the killing fields in the Middle East and Africa – that
differences among people can be settled without firing a shot, without anyone getting
killed. The dispute began when China started to pave a road in a Himalayan
region at a plateau in Doklam, a territory China considers part of its land but
India recognizes as part of the kingdom of Bhutan, its close ally. India sent
its troops to stop China, and in turn China sent its troops to reinforce its
claims.

The
conflagration between the two nations, each equipped with nuclear weapons and a
large, recently expanded military, alarmed various observers. Indian-born
economist and British politician Meghnad Desai claimed, according to India Today, “We could be in a full scale war with China
within a month.” A Washington Posteditorial painted a bleak scene of Doklam
as a ticking time bomb: “China and India, two nuclear-armed nations, have come
near the brink of conflict over an unpaved road…Now soldiers from the two
powers are squaring off, separated by only a few hundred feet. The conflict
shows no sign of abating, and it reflects the swelling ambition – and
nationalism – of both countries.” An op-ed in Al-Jazeera similarly set a foreboding scene: “The two
Asian giants, collectively home to a third of humanity, are once again on the
verge of direct military conflict with frightening implications for the region
and beyond.”

Yet
both Indian and Chinese troops left their firearms behind and instead jostled
with each other in ways that are more reminiscent of a pick-up basketball game
or, at worst, a St. Patrick’s Day street brannigan. Videos of these outbursts
have regaled YouTube viewers. One video of
a Doklam skirmish shows roughly a dozen Indian and Chinese soldiers in heavy
coats pushing each other around. Some simply charge with their chests, holding
their hands in the air to signal they don’t want a fight. Others hold their
foes in bear hugs. No punches are thrown. Many of the soldiers wear cameras
slung over their shoulders, as each side seems eager to capture the other
looking abusive. Another video,
which was aired on NDTV, depicts a more heated confrontation at Pangong Lake in
Ladakh, where some patrolmen wrestled, punched, kicked, and hurled stones at
each other. In all, not a shot was fired, not one was killed.

After
two months of shoving and pushing – the two sides settled. Each framed the
withdrawal of their troops from the contested area in their own terms, but
leave they did. An Indian Foreign Ministry official told the Associated Press that the two sides had agreed to return
to the “status quo,” and cable news channel NDTV reported that Chinese
bulldozers had been moved away, and road construction stopped. According to
the Washington Post, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson
said that China will continue to “exercise its sovereign rights” and “guard its
territorial sovereignty.” Talk they did; shoot they did not.

The
issue may well flare up again. And the road, which the region needs, may well
be paved. However, for now this form of conflict resolution deserves much more
attention than it is getting. Jostling – or, my favorite, arm wrestling –
recommends itself for parties that contest territories, from Iraq to Sudan,
from Libya to Afghanistan.

Some
may say that this confrontation in Bhutan was indeed an operatic one, but we
all know how aggressive China usually is. Indeed, China’s foreign policy has
often been described as “aggressive” by academics and pundits. However, in my
2017 book Avoiding War with China, I examined the major
confrontations in which China has been involved in this century. These include
the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, the Scarborough Shoal, and the Spratly Islands. In
all these instances, no one was killed; not a shot was fired. In some cases
China “lost” (it failed to change the status of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands); in
some it resolved the differences peacefully (with the Philippines over the
Spratly Islands); and in some the status remains unclear. However, without
exception, aggression – if this term applies at all – was largely verbal or
amounted to some pushing and shoving, ramming fishing boats, and, in one case,
roping off a shoal to impede the travel of some vessels into a Chinese-claimed
area.

I
am not suggesting that China – or India – have adopted Gandhi’s philosophy of
nonviolence or that they are about to disband their militaries and train their
people in advanced jostling. Nor do I argue that they are incapable of engaging
in a major shooting war or other forms of brutality. However, in a period when
we are bombarded with images of civil wars, attacks on crowded urban markets,
and bombings of cities teeming with civilians, the way China and India settled
their latest dispute, at least for now, provides a welcome respite.

Amitai
Etzioni is professor of international relations at The George Washington
University. He is the author of Avoiding War with China, just published by University of
Virginia Press. Follow his work on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

About Me

Dr Shabir Choudhry has done extensive research on the issue of Kashmir and Indo Pakistan relations. He passed BA Honours in Politics and History, and Mphil in International Relations (title of the thesis, ‘Kashmir and Partition of India’); and title of his PhD thesis is ‘Kashmir- An issue of a nation not a dispute of a land’.

Apart from this Dr Shabir Choudhry passed Post Graduates Certificates in Education, and NVQ Assessor’s qualifications; and taught English in London.

Political Achievements

Founder member of JKLF (Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front established in 1977) and got elected as a Press Secretary in 1984.

Became its Secretary General in 1985, and resigned from this post in 1996.

Got elected President of JKLF and Europe in May 1999, and decided not to contest in elections of July 2001.

Said good - bye to the JKLF as it is in many groups and is largely seen as advancing a Pakistani agenda on Kashmir dispute, and set up a new party Kashmir National Party in May 2008.

.

At present, he is:

·Spokesman Kashmir National Party and Director Diplomatic Committee;

·Spokesman for International KashmirAlliance;

·Founder member and Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs;

Previously

·A founder Member and Trustee/ Director of London based registered charity, Kashmir Foundation International and resigned from this position in August 2001.

·Regularly take part in the Sessions of the UN Human Rights (Commission) now Council in Geneva; and address various conferences and seminars to oppose violence and highlight the Kashmir cause.

·Participated in a Round Table Conference on Kashmir, organised by Socialist Group of European Parliament in Brussels in 1993.

·Addressed as a Chief Guest in a seminar on issue of Mangla Dam during the UN Sub Commission’s proceedings in August 2003.

·Addressed as a key - note speaker in a seminar on the issue of Gilgit and Baltistan, organised by Association of British Kashmiris.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker on human rights conference in Paris in 1991.

·Addressed at CambridgeUniversity as a Chief Guest in a conference on Kashmir in 1990.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker at New Delhi conference on Kashmir, which was part of Track Two diplomacy in November 2000.

·In September 2008, addressed a Conference arranged by Interfaith International in Geneva, topic of which was:“Kashmir Issue, Terrorism and Human Rights”.

·Addressed as a speaker in a NGO Conference on Self - Determination in Geneva in August 2000.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker in a fringe meeting of Liberal Democrats at their Annual Conference in Brighton in 1995.

·Participated in World Human Rights Conference in Vienna in 1993.

·Before President Clinton's visit to India and Pakistan in 2000, lead a JKLF delegation to the State Department to discuss Kashmir dispute and situation in South Asia.

·Also had two rounds of meetings with senior State Department officials before President Musharraf’s meeting to Washington in June 2003.

·Apart from that had meetings with senior officials including Ministers of different countries, and also held many meetings with the State Department and Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials on number of occasions.

·Played important role in advancing a Kashmiri perspective on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir; and also helped Baroness Emma Nicholson with her report ‘Kashmir: present situation and future prospects’, which was adopted by the European Parliament in May 2007.

·Won first prize in an essay competition in Urdu in 1976. It was organised by High Commission of Pakistan in London, and title of the essay was 'Qaaid-e- Azam's role in Islamic History'.

·Apart from that have addressed conferences in Brussels, Geneva, Toronto, Islamabad, Delhi, and

Publications

·Got first Urdu novel ‘Fareena’ published at the age of eighteen.

·Second Urdu novel ‘Bay-Khataa’ which was about the problems of Asian youths living in UK published in 1983.

·Third Urdu book ‘Pakistan and Kashmiri struggle for independence’ published in 1990.

·Fourth Urdu book is also on Kashmiri struggle, 'Is an independent Kashmir a conspiracy?'

·Apart from that has twenty books and booklets published in English on various aspects of the Kashmiri struggle.

·Recent publications are: Kashmir dispute as I see it

·Different perspective on Kashmir

·JKLF visit to Pakistan Administered Kashmir

·Kashmir Needs Change of Heart

·If not self - determination then what?

·Emma Nicholson report- who has won?

·Struggle for independence, Jihad or proxy war (Introduction by Baroness Emma Nicholson)

·

Future publications

Following books were completed some time ago and shall be published in near future:

In Search of Freedom - My visit to Srinagar and Islamabad

Kashmir and Partition of India

A brief background

Dr Shabir Choudhry was born in a small village called Nakker Shimali (near Panjeri) in District Bhimber, Azad Kashmir. He went to UK in 1966, and like other people from the region, holds a dual nationality. He left secondary school in 1970 with no qualifications and began his life as a textile worker.

In 1975 he started part time studies and passed Matriculation from Government High School Panjeri, passed ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels from UK, and resumed full time degree course in 1981, and passed BA (Hons) in Politics and History in 1984.

He continued full time and part time jobs until he got his Mphil. He passed his PGCE (Post Graduates Certificate in Education) in 1990, and then started full time job as a Lecturer. Due to health problems he resigned from teaching in 1999. At present he is self - employed, provides private tuition, translation and interpretation and consultancy.

Through out his adult life he has actively worked for the cause of Kashmir, and even during long illness he effectively carried out his responsibilities as a leader of the JKLF, a ‘prolific writer’ and consistent campaigner of Rights Movement and peace in Jammu and Kashmir and South Asia.